Mexican Mangoes: Sweet Deals

by Regina Schrambling

on 03/15/09 at 12:28 PM

Lately berries are spilling out of markets all over Manhattan, with huge displays of plastic-boxed fruits that seem so seductive until I get a grip and remember none of them will taste like much out of season. Luckily, the price is a turnoff: $5 for a half-pint of imported blueberries is sidewalk robbery. Which makes the amazing mangoes turning up by the crateload a total deal right now, at a buck apiece, because it's harvest time around Chiapas. Sometimes they're labeled Champagne Mangoes (whether they are or not), other times Ataulfos, but always they're an experience. The flesh is sweet and silky; if a fruit could be described as "like buttah," this is it. Each one is much smaller than the honking red-and-yellow mangoes prevalent in other months, but the ratio of fruit to seed is higher. We've been splitting one every morning, but they make a fast dessert if you purée them and fold them into stiffly whipped cream. The best way to tackle these little guys is to slice off the meat on each side of the pit with a very sharp knife, then score it into squares and slide the knife between the pulp and the peel to get perfect chunks. The only hard part is resisting one for the prep cook for every two for the bowl. I have no guilt over indulging when apples from storage are still the only fruits at the Greenmarkets, either, because there is no such thing as a local mango here in the frozen North.

Mangoes are my absolute favorite fruit in the world. (And they go great with raspberries, my second favorite!)

My mom was born in Cuba and had a mango tree in her backyard! Growing up in NJ, my sisters and I used to wait eagerly when our parents peeled them so we could "get the pit" and eat whatever fruit was left around it over the kitchen sink. My abuelita used to make the BEST mango milkshakes. I'm still trying to figure out the right proportions of frozen mango to milk and sugar (though I think the trick might be condensed milk). Don't forget a tiny pinch of salt!

What's weird is that I can't let the oils from the mango skin get on my lips because I get a rash! I read somewhere that it's in the poison ivy family, but not everyone is affected by it.

Still the best fruit ever. I can't wait for them to show up in my market!

yehudisg
10:36:21 AM on
03/18/09

Great quick dessert/snack/breakfast is to take your mushier mangoes, cut up, freeze. Then use an immersion blender to grind the frozen pieces with an equal amount of unsweetened yogurt. You come out with instant frozen yogurt that is incredibly good. You can actually do this with just about any frozen fruit, but mango works really, really well.

Nikki_in_Cali
01:35:10 PM on
03/16/09

I have a secret love affair with mangoes. My favorite way to eat them is in my bathing suit, sitting on the beach with a sharp knife and the sound of the ocean crashing around me. The juicier the better, I just dive into the water when I'm done and no Sticky Nikki.

I need one now! Where are my car keys?

SassyApples
02:24:29 PM on
03/15/09

Mango Sorbet is a deadly dessert and highly addictive. Mango Lasse is another that is addictive. Mangoes cut and sliced into chunks with pineapples, melons, and bit of fresh coconut, drizzled with a honey sweetened fresh lime juice, then a good dash of cayenne pepper must have been a fruit salad of the Mayan Gods! Add 2 cups of some sweet ripe fine diced mango and mango juice to a plain yellow cake mix, using no water, and you have the most delicious cake. Moist and decadent! Make a frosting using coconut milk and powdered sugar, then put shredded coconut on the cake, with a pineapple filling between the layers. You will think you are eating the most delicous dessert food on the planet.

We love mangoes and are lucky enough to get them year round where we live. They are always a favorite! Sexy juicy mangoes!